This Man May Be Big Tech’s Biggest Threat

By Steve Lohr, New York Times

At a hearing this summer about the rising power of the country’s biggest tech companies, Representative David Cicilline zeroed in on Amazon. Unhappy with a response from one of the company’s top lawyers, he delivered a biting retort.

“I may remind you, sir: You are under oath,” Mr. Cicilline said.

Tech companies are under various antitrust investigations, including by the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general. Those inquiries could lead to lawsuits against the companies to enforce existing laws.

But Mr. Cicilline has a more ambitious goal — one that may be the greater threat, in the long run, to Big Tech’s practices and profits. He’s trying to build evidence, and a bipartisan consensus, for changing the laws themselves.

When his party took control of the House this year, Mr. Cicilline, a five-term Rhode Island Democrat, became chairman of the subcommittee that oversees antitrust law. In June, he opened an investigation into possible anticompetitive practices by Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon.

Under his direction, the panel has held hearings and collected thousands of documents from the companies. The lawmakers have requested countless more records, including emails among top executives.

He has made clear to the companies that he is not messing around. When he found the July testimony of industry witnesses incomplete, Mr. Cicilline sent the companies follow-up questions. His list: 181 questions for Google, 45 for Facebook, 158 for Amazon and 43 for Apple.

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